Bible Strands
Numbers 4:35
everyone from thirty to fifty years old who came to serve in the work at the Tent of Meeting.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The biblical narrator records Moses, Aaron, and the tribal leaders enumerating the Kohathite clans during the Levitical census. This moment establishes the demographic criteria for those designated to perform duties at the Tent of Meeting.
The words — The phrase מִבֶּן שְׁלֹשִׁים שָׁנָה וָמַעְלָה וְעַד בֶּן חֲמִשִּׁים שָׁנָה (mi ben shaloshim shanah va-ma‘alah ve‘ad ben chamishim shanah) literally renders "from a son of thirty years and upwards and to a son of fifty years." This Hebrew idiom uses "son of" to denote age rather than lineage.
The thread — This age specification recurs in the parallel census regulations of Numbers 4:3 and Numbers 4:23, and is later adjusted to twenty years old in 1 Chronicles 23:24.
Why it lands — The text restricts the service roster to a specific working age bracket, requiring the reader to recognize the administrative precision applied to sacred duties. It demands acknowledgment that religious service in this context is bound by concrete, measurable criteria rather than voluntary enthusiasm.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
From thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old, every one that entereth into the service, for the work in the tabernacle of the congregation:
Cross-references
- Numbers 4:23 from thirty to fifty years old, counting everyone who comes to serve in the work at the Tent of Meeting.
- 1 Chronicles 23:24 These were the descendants of Levi by their families—the heads of families, registered individually by name—those twenty years of age or older who worked in the service of the house of the LORD.
- Numbers 4:3 men from thirty to fifty years old—everyone who is qualified to serve in the work at the Tent of Meeting.
- Numbers 4:30 from thirty to fifty years old, counting everyone who comes to serve in the work of the Tent of Meeting.
- Numbers 4:39 everyone from thirty to fifty years old who came to serve in the work at the Tent of Meeting.
- Numbers 4:43 everyone from thirty to fifty years old who came to serve in the work at the Tent of Meeting.
- Numbers 4:47 from thirty to fifty years old who came to do the work of serving and carrying the Tent of Meeting.
- Numbers 8:24 “This applies to the Levites: Men twenty-five years of age or older shall enter to perform the service in the work at the Tent of Meeting.
- 1 Chronicles 23:3 The Levites thirty years of age or older were counted, and the total number of men was 38,000.
- 1 Chronicles 23:26 So now the Levites no longer need to carry the tabernacle or any of the articles for its service.”